Silent Truce
by Vintage Writer
Summary: A trip to the carnival gone wrong leads to an uneasy truce. Alternate Take on Season 4 Finale. Now officially a one-shot.


Title: Silent Truce

Author: Vintage Writer

Rating: PG-13 (for language)

Summary: A trip to the Carnival gone wrong leads to an uneasy truce.

A/N: Written for a livejournal fic exchange, Inspired by the prompt "The Sad thing is that the most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil," and Slight casting/setting spoilers, A little speculative and a whole lotta imagination gone wild. Heroes does not belong to me...period.

i.

"Wh-" Claire's lips were automatically clamped shut by invisible fingers. But the rest of her body was surprisingly not under his control.

"I just saved you…and your friend. I really don't need to hear you bitch about how I'm still alive," Sylar growled angrily, back facing Claire as he sat on a rotting log, watching the distant smoke and fire billowing and burning brightly in the distance of what was left of _Mr. Samuel's Carnival_.

Standing there, Claire slightly flinched as she watched Sylar crush Nathan's aviator glasses in the palm of his right hand, discarding it off with a flick of a finger.

Claire didn't say anything when she felt his invisible grip release her lips. Instead she just stood there, stared at his back, willing herself to keep breathing.

This wasn't how the day was supposed to end. Claire, Gretchen, her roommate were supposed to be unlocking the door to their Village C West dorm room at this moment. Laughing at the insanely large pink teddy bear that _Nathan Petrelli_ had won for his daughter in a game of skill, eight five dollar bills later, only to be lectured by their other roommate Annie on the objectification of women in Carnivals. Not being recruited by a group of side show specials that needed _The Amazing Melting Girl_.

"You're welcome," he said without looking at Claire.

Eventually Claire quietly sat down on the log at a reasonable distance from him. She pulled the long velvet cape tied around her neck closer to her, slightly freezing from the costume she had on, she looked at the burning carnival miles ahead of her. The small dots of emergency vehicles scattering about looking for anyone hurt or any witnesses at the site. Her roommate would be a reliable witness, although she had been knocked out cold from the skirmish inside the now burning big-top, Claire dragged her out a reasonable distance near the ticket booth at the entrance of the carnival.

Neither of them spoke. The sound of crickets in the field was somewhat soothing to the racing thoughts that ran through them, most importantly evading the big elephant that sat between them…why they weren't at each other's throats literally and figuratively. Maybe it had something to do with the surreal nature of their current situation: Claire sitting on a rotten log in a slightly provocative circus costume next to a man who convincingly posed as her biological father for half a year… not to mention both equally responsible for the fire in front of them.

Finally, Claire broke the silence, "Thank you." She didn't look at him when she said that, instead she saw him slightly glance at her from the corner of her eye. He stood up and walked away, away from the sight in front of them.

"Let's go," he said, as if the history between them had magically been erased enough for Claire to automatically follow him. Claire shifted the cape around to look behind her to see Nathan waiting for her. He had assumed the form of the Nathan. Her eyes began to burn from salty tears from the sight of this.

"What is wrong with you!" she yelled, knowing that such a question was quite stupid on her part. This was _Sylar_ she was talking to.

"I don't know Claire! Would you care to explain what sort of mindfuckery had to go behind this_!_" he yelled pointing to face that bore Nathan's image, "I think you know who all went behind it quite well…and that's why I'm assuming this form, they'll be looking for you. So let's go. You've got about three options on how you're getting back to D.C….and I don't think you'll enjoy two of them."

II.

The landing was quite rough when they landed on the roof of Nathan's luxury townhome. Claire somehow scraped her knee on the landing, but it healed as Sylar almost telekinetically ripped the roof access hatch door off its hinges:

"Goodnight Claire. Do what you want. I don't care. Take the metro back to Georgetown…walk…hell, try to kill me if you want." he said in such a way that made Claire fearful of his current mental state. She watched him disappear down the access door, slamming it shut behind him. Claire sat on the roof immobile for a few moments remembering what Micah Sanders AKA REBEL, had told Claire about Sylar's downright scary mental breakdown, switching in and out of personalities. If anyone was going to look for her (especially her father and Angela) who knew she was with Nathan and saw the eleven o'clock news, the last thing she needed was someone barging in on Sylar having a meltdown wasn't in the best interests of anyone who didn't possess regenerative abilities.

Getting up without trying to trip on the cape, Claire looked up at the night sky thinking a silent prayer before she turned her sights to the closed roof access hatch.

As she lifted the hatch she could hear the sound of glasses and other heavy objects being thrown every which way from below. Quickly she rushed down to the source, only to doge a flying wine glass that barely went over her head. She pressed her body against the wall that lead to the study as more things flew out of the door, most noticeably a pair of scissors and a letter opener that were jutting out from the wall along with a smashed bottle of Pinot. After five minutes of this, Claire had to stop it before the police were called over.

"Sy…" she paused as she looked into the room. The desk that occupied most of the room was splintered, forced to one side of the room, revealing the fireplace that was behind it. He was sitting in the middle of the hardwood floor.

He stopped, looked over his shoulder and gave her a look that she never would have expected from him before telekinetically plunging the Townhome in darkness.

A fire flickered on from the fireplace thereafter, throwing dancing shadows of Sylar's figure all over the room.

Claire watched as him as he pushed his knees closer to him, wrapping his arms around them, beginning to stare at the fire in front of him. He rested his chin on his knees: "Why aren't you leaving?' he asked without looking at her.

Why wasn't she leaving? He wasn't giving her one of his lofty self deluded speeches, nor had he pinned her to a wall/thrown her against one, or even threatened to kill anyone near and dear to her. He was letting her go…on her own free will. But she chose to not go anywhere.

"_I think you know who all went behind it quite well…and that's why I'm assuming this form, they'll be looking for you…"_

Instead she took a step forward and sat down next to him. He didn't flinch or move a single muscle when a bit of her cape brushed against him. He was staring off somewhere that wasn't the fire before them:

"I killed him Claire," his voice barely a whisper, "I killed a good man, one who at least tried to be one."

Claire's lips began to quiver when he said this, but she remained quiet.

"Did you know how much he loved you Claire, everyone loved him, no matter how many times he knew he screwed up, even Peter…don't even get me started on that one. Those two loved each other so much it killed them," he wiped is face off with one his shirt sleeves, a smirk forming on his face when he brought his arm down. She couldn't tell if he was really laughing or going into hysterics, "and his mother…loved him so much, she couldn't accept that he was really dead… so they used me as a substitute to make them happy… Nathan and I miserable…almost."

"Almost?"

"You Claire are calming… I needed that, you were the only one who made sense and never lied to me...ever, these past few months. You were the reason why you kept my Nathan side centered and sane, although I knew something was still off when I was him …I fell into routine. I Started to like all the attention and care I was getting...I liked that feeling…and I was forced to confront it back at the Carnival…I was living on borrowed time and memories …now it's gone Claire. For once in my life I really felt that people actually cared about what happened to me. I was somebody…I was special...special even to you."

"What?" she asked.

"Claire, I finally understood how love could stay…if only for one fleeting moment...now…I don't think it's ever going to come back…I needed to be honest with you…and myself. Angela and Noah are going to do whatever it takes to keep me away from you, society, and them until their dying day…the only reason why I'm not ready to kill them right now is because the only person that I'm going to hurt in the process is the only person I've managed to have some semblance of a relationship with… you." And with that, he retreated back into silence, his gaze long gone from Claire.

Quietly, Claire got up on her feet and began to walk away. She couldn't stay here with him. Her mind was jumbled with conflicting thoughts and feelings towards him, her father and Angela. It didn't help much when she reached the door to the town home. Sylar, she assumed was still upstairs staring off into the fireplace. He hadn't locked her inside the room with him, held her against her will, he simply allowed her to leave of her own will…something she still did not understand why he was doing so. Maybe he was going to stop her before she walked out the front door.

Or when she made it halfway down the street…

Or when she reached the entrance to the metro…

Or when she walked through the turnstile of the subway station…

Or when she stepped through the sliding doors of the subway…

Or when she got off the Georgetown stop…

Or when she sprinted across the green of the campus…

Or when she stood on the elevator going to her dorm…

Or when Annie wrapped her arms around Claire in a tight hug, demanding what the heck happened at the Carnival to her and Gretchen…

Or when she kept looking over at the open window of their room, half expecting him to fly in…

But he never came or stopped her…and that's what frightened her the most.


End file.
